Episode 143: Omar Apollo

Omar Apollo talks growing up Chicano in Indiana, learning to be a musician in the last 2 years via YouTube tutorials, and growing up a Kinda Neat fan (awww shucks)

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Omar Apollo surprised me in a lot of ways. Beside dad issues, an ongoing personal theme of this show has been “people will surprise you.” It ties into plenty of old adages, but we tend to paint a picture of who a person is before we meet them. Every time I do this, I come to find out I’m completely wrong in my assumptions. With Omar‘s dreamy vocals, purposefully polished lo-fi aesthetic, and multi-instrumental self-produced musicianship, I made the assumption he might be an “industry plant.” I thought he’d come in to the studio dressed to the nines with a small entourage of label execs. Nope. People will surprise you.

Turns out Omar is a really fucking normal 21 year old with an above average curiosity for music. I say that because until 2 years ago he claims to not have had any outstanding musical talent. He wanted to impress his dad so he started taking vocal lessons…on YouTube! It was via that glorious site he learned to play the guitar, make beats, and produce his own records. So what are you doing with your time on YouTube?

Needless to say the last two years have been fruitful. His recent Stereo EP is receiving good reviews and garnering him a strong fanbase. His numbers are on the rise, and this summer he’ll be playing shows and touring with heavy hitters. So he’s definitely a name to watch. Beyond that he gave me a little bit of personal flattery because he and his team have been actual KN fans since our humble beginnings in 2013. They even cracked a few jokes about past guests that only true viewers would’ve gotten.

Tune in for a conversation that swayed more towards goofiness and good times than anything too serious. We talk about growing up in Indiana, his immigrant family, and his lack of media training.